In Wayanad, the second seat that he contested from, Rahul won by a margin of more than 400,000 votes
Analysts said on Thursday her presence on the ground in Amethi did the job for her Pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate beat Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, a seat the Congress president had held for three consecutive terms. Irani defeated Gandhi by more than 52,000 votes in the Gandhi family bastion.
The Amethi election was a prestige battle for the Congress, which was fighting its first general election under the leadership of Gandhi.
The Congress has won the seat continuously since 1967, except in two instances—the Janata Party won in 1977 and BJP for less than a year during the tenure of the first National Democratic Alliance government in 1998.
Conceding defeat, Gandhi told reporters: “On Amethi, I want to say that Smriti Irani has won. I want to congratulate her. I respect the decision made by the people of Amethi. I hope that she will take good care of it and respect the mandate given to her by the people of Amethi.”
The win marked a strong comeback for Irani after being trounced by Gandhi by over 100,000 votes in 2014. “Kaun kehta hai ki aasman mein suraakh nahi ho sakte (Who says there cannot be a hole in the sky),” Irani said in a tweet in Hindi, alluding to her win.
(This story has been published from live mint without modifications to the text. only the headline has been changed.)